


It Takes a Village

by CrystalDinnerGuest



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-08-29 19:38:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8502784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalDinnerGuest/pseuds/CrystalDinnerGuest
Summary: Meet the newest and cutest Crystal Gem, Spunky. Watch as Pearl and the others raise a full blooded gem child. It's not going to be easy but they're going to do it alone.





	1. The Arrival

Pearl though she wouldn’t admit it was asleep when Amethyst came barging into her room shouting. She was exhausted after battling Rose’s plants to get healing water from Rose's fountain and was hoping for a little downtime. That was not to be as Amethyst was running around and babbling nonsense.

“Calm down Amethyst you’re not making any sense. Now can you start all over again?” asked Pearl.

“I said that we’re in big trouble. Some gem kid just rode in on a giant robinoid,” said Amethyst as calmly as she could.

“You must be mistaken gems don’t have children.”

“Whatever! Right now, there’s a small green Peridot clone riding on a huge robiniod in the Beach house.”

Pearl still groggy, pulled out her spear, “I’m going to see for myself.”

The sight before her woke her up. Sure enough there was a small green gem standing on the kitchen counters making a mess. The little gem was bald and naked except for a diaper. She pulled out stuff from the kitchen cabinets. Her robinoid was off to the side sitting still.

Amethyst looked in confusion for a while and then pulled her whip out. Pearl signaled her to stop. The pale gem knew exactly what to do. After raising and taking care of Steven for six years she knew exactly what to do. The former servant strode right into the kitchen.

“You there get off the counters right this instant young lady,” said Pearl in her most authoritarian voice.

The little gem scrambled down and stood in front of Pearl. The pale gem saw many things that Amethyst didn’t. The little gem was the size of a 6-year-old. She was dirty with scabby knees. The little gem was indeed a Peridot with a large triangular gem set into her forehead. She looked up at Pearl.

“I’m hungry can I have some light buns?” said the little invader. Then she peed right through her diaper.

“You’re going to get a bath first. Look at you. You’re a mess,” said Pearl smiling.

She then took the little Peridot’s hand and marched her right into the bathroom.

“Why are you taking me to a think chamber?” asked the little Peridot.

“You’ll see,” replied Pearl.

As Pearl filled up the bathtub she stripped the little gem down. The diaper was filthy. Once the bathtub was full Pearl put in some bubble bath and then the gem child. Pearl started scrubbing away.

“Look at you so dirty,” scolded Pearl. “How long have you been playing in the warp stream?”

“I wasn’t playing I was running away,” pouted the little child. 

“Oh and why did you want to run away from home little one?” asked Pearl. By this time, she was scrubbing Spunky’s scalp. Pearl could see some stubble growing.

“They had sold me to a shipping yard and were going to chop off my limbs and give me robot parts,” said the little gem.

“Now my next question is very important. Who are you?”

“I’m Peridot Facet 2F6, 6 -they call me Spunky.”

Pearl asked a couple of more questions as she scrubbed Spunky clean. Then she pulled Spunky out of the bathtub and drained it. As she toweled Spunky dry, Pearl could see her little eyes drooping. 

“Amethyst, see if you can get a pair of Steven’s old pajamas from his room, will you?”

Once Spunky was dressed, Pearl seated Spunky at the breakfast counter. Then it was time to make something to eat. Pearl searched the cupboards for something to make quickly. There wasn’t much, some soup and canned vegetables. There was no reason to shop for food once Steven and Greg left. Then she saw some pancake mix.

Little Spunky kicked her legs as her new manager prepared her something to eat. She could see that the older gem was using some large heating device to make some sort of cakes in a pan. Then the pale gem placed in front of Spunky the cakes and some weird metallic tool. Spunky started to eat.

“No, use this to eat,” scolded Pearl. “Like this.” The older gem cut a piece with a fork and fed it to Spunky.

The little gem tried her best but still she managed to make quite a mess. Good thing Amethyst had already eaten all the syrup. Pearl gave the little gem a wipe down. Then she heard the warp pad flash. Bismuth was back with a huge barrel full of gem substrate.

“All right let’s get some healing magic started,” Bismuth’s face fell. “Er, Pearl who’s this?” Bismuth pointed to the small green gem holding Pearl’s hand.

“I’m Spunky,” declared the young Peridot.

Pearl smiled down at the youngster, “As she said this is Spunky. Spunky rode in on one of the robinoids.”

“I’m running away. They were going to give me yucky robot parts and make me work in a shipping yard,” pouted Spunky.

“And so she’ll be staying with us for a little while until we decide what’s best for her. Now that’s done. How about we try healing some corrupted Nephrites and taking care of our robinoid situation?” said Pearl.

“Can I help?” asked Spunky.

“You are going to go to bed. Amethyst read her a story and show her how how’s done will you?”

Amethyst grumbled as she took Spunky’s hand. She led Spunky up to a small room. Inside was big cushion covered in blankets. Amethyst plunked Spunky on the cushion and wrapped in the blankets. She looked at Spunky for a while looking slightly angry.

“All right squirt here’s how it’s going to be. I’m going to read you a story and then you’re going to close your eyes and lie still. Got it?” said Amethyst.

Spunky shook her head. Amethyst pulled out some sort of strange tablet and started reading from it. The story was about three duckies whatever that was. Spunky didn’t know what half the words were or even what they were doing. She missed her crèche mates, she missed her old managers. Spunky’s eyes felt heavy and she closed them while Amethyst droned on with her story. Before Spunky knew it, she was asleep.

Once Spunky was asleep Amethyst crept out of the room. “Alright the little monster’s asleep. Let’s get down to business.”

“Not so fast,” said Bismuth. “I want to know what we are going to do with her?”

“Well take care of her, obviously. We can’t send her back,” said Pearl.

“Are you crazy?” shouted Amethyst. Pearl shushed. Amethyst continued in a softer voice, “Spunky’s like some gem kid. And she has people looking for her.”

Bismuth sighed, “Which is why we can’t send her back. She’d tell where she’s been. And we don’t know how to care for a child. We’re in quite a pickle.”

“Actually Amethyst and I know how to take care of a child. We were raising Rose’s son, Steven for nine years,” said Pearl brightly. “Besides we have a whole planet full of child care experts.”

“Ah not to burst your bubble but Spunky isn’t like Steven. And we don’t know what a Peridot needs,” said Amethyst.

“But we do know someone who does. Amethyst why don’t you call Peridot will you?” said Pearl lightly just before she and Bismuth entered the temple.

Amethyst sat herself down on the couch she was not looking forward to this. After a couple of rings Peridot answered the phone. Through the phone Amethyst could hear the breakfast rush. Biting the bullet Amethyst began to talk.

“Hey we’ve got a situation here!” shouted Amethyst.

“Nice to hear from you too. I’m sorry Steven’s at the grill cooking. He’s not available right now,” replied Peridot.

“It doesn’t matter it’s your expertise that we want. Your robinoids started coming in and on one of them was a little Peridot. She calls herself Spunky and she’s run away from home. It’s all messed up. The little gremlin is all hyper and we don’t know what to do.”

For a while Amethyst heard silence and then Peridot started laughing. “I’d like to see Pearl’s face when her orderly little world fell apart.” Peridot started laughing again.

“Seriously not funny. As for Pearl, she kinda likes this. She’s being all broody and mothering the little monster.”

“First things first did she have any limb enhancers?”

“Nope all she was wearing was a little pair of diapers.”

“That changes everything. Now listen very carefully Amethyst what you have is a newborn or very close to it. She will be hyper and very curious. Spunky needs to be supervised and kept amused at all times. Due to her naturally high intelligence and social nature she will need educational materials and surrogates.”

“What?”

“Toys give her toys and dolls! Also, Spunky will need a regular routine of meals and bedtimes.”

“What’s wrong with a light chamber?”

“You expect a small child to lie still for 2 hours and Amethyst you’re going to love this. You need to toilet train her.”

“Oh great, not only do we have to deal with a flood of robinoids but some kid as well? When can you come down and help us?”

“Look Steven and I will be busy all day. You don’t need my help, robiniods are idiot proof. Oh, and Amethyst whatever you do don’t let Spunky into the temple.”

The green gem hung up. Amethyst sighed great, more good news. Pearl and Bismuth had already gone into her room to treat Centipeedle and her crew who were sleeping off a feast of robinoids. Amethyst looked around. The place was a mess even by her standards. Spunky had pulled out stuff from the cupboards, Centipeedle’s spit had eaten holes into Beach House and Pearl hadn’t bothered to clean up from feeding Spunky.

Then Amethyst did something she never expected to do in her life. She started cleaning up. 

Amethyst had finished putting away all cans and stuff back into the kitchen cabinets, when Pearl and a group of semi healed Nephrites entered along with Bismuth. Behind them followed a small group of robinoids. 

“Hey put those robinoids back. I just cleaned up,” shouted Amethyst.

“You actually did,” said Pearl in amazement.

Centipeedle and her crew meanwhile were surveying the Beach House and the damage done to it. They chittered amongst themselves as if deciding what to do. Pearl could swear that she could even make out a few words. That meant having a conversation was now possible. 

They started to work. Each gem took a small group of robinoids. Sitting in their own corner they tried giving the robinoids commands as they wandered around the house. The noise started to wake up Spunky. The little gem stumbled out of Steven’s old room.

“I can’t sleep,” said Spunky as she rubbed her eyes. 

“Well how about you find some toys and play quietly,” said Pearl. “Now Bismuth you had some experience, Spunky don’t play in there.”

Spunky scrambled out of the oven. She scurried up to Pearl and looked over her shoulder. 

“What are you doing?” asked the little gem.

“Look we’re trying to control these robinoids and make them do what we want,” said Pearl sharply.

“Can I help?” said Spunky.

“No, look just leave us alone it’s adult time now,” said Pearl as she pushed Spunky out of the living room.

Spunky scurried into the bathroom. Pearl could hear the water running and some splashing.

“Spunky get out of there,” ordered Pearl. “Amethyst clean up that mess, will you?”

Amethyst grumbled as she went into the washroom. Pearl could hear Amethyst swearing.

“Mind your language Amethyst. We have a child in the house,” chided Pearl.

“That’s it I’m going to my room,” said Amethyst.

Once Amethyst was gone Pearl turned to Bismuth, “So can you get the robinoids to do anything useful?” asked Pearl.

“No but I managed to get them to do something,” said Bismuth. “Robinoids stop.” The robinoids stopped for a little while.

“Is this a toy?” Spunky held up a hairdryer.

Pearl snatched the hairdryer away, “No! and where did you get this?”

“From the think chamber.”

“You really shouldn’t be taking anything out from there. Now er Nephrites can you try something?”

Spunky ran off somewhere else. Pearl was having a hard time concentrating.

The Nephrite captain squeaked something that sounded like a yes.

“Is this a toy?” Spunky’s hands were covered in dish soap.

“No and don’t play with anything from the kitchen!”

“What’s a kitchen?”

Pearl pointed impatiently to the kitchen, “That there! Look go up to you room and play there. Now Captain try your best.”

The Nephrite captain shrieked something. The call reverberated throughout the house and the temple. The robinoids stopped wandering and ran up to the Nephrite. Then the gems heard a rumbling noise and Amethyst came running out of her room.

“It’s a robinoid tsunami!” the purple gem cried.

Behind came waves and waves of robinoids of all sizes. They burst out of the door and swarmed everywhere. The Crystal gems tried shouting commands even using their weapons but it was all too much too soon. Just as it looked like things were at their worst. Spunky stepped out of Steven’s room.

“Robinoids, general order cease and desist,” shouted the little gem. She was still in her pajamas.

The robinoids stopped. They turned to face the gem child. The Crystal Gems stared at the little green girl in shock.

“Flask robinoids exit the domicile and form a perimeter 100 nings around. Await orders.”

Before the amazed gems’ eyes the largest robinoids left the Beach house. The smaller ones still waited.

“Industrial plug robinoids scan the domicile and effect repairs. Training robinoid stay.” 

The small robinoids shot out green laser beams as they scanned the Beach house with their sensors. Then they squirted out a strange silvery liquid that glittered and glowed as it worked. Some of the robinoids returned inside the temple but one small robinoid stayed still. Unlike the other robinoids this one was white and fuzzy. Little Spunky climbed down the stairs and picked it up. As she hugged it to her body the thing squeaked.

“I’m hungry can I have some panned cakes again?” said Spunky.

After Pearl made some pancakes for Spunky. The older gems surrounded the little gem as she stabbed a piece of pancake with a fork and started chewing it.

“So Spunky how did you know how to do that with the robinoids?” asked Pearl. The adult gems stared down at the little gem as she ate.

“It what you learn in the crèche. Everybody knows how to make robinoids to do what they want unless they’re really old,” replied Spunky.

“Hey, little friend. I would like to take the big robinoids to the farm and get them to build some structures. Can you teach me how to do that?” asked Bismuth.

“Okay.”

Once Spunky had finished her meal, Pearl took the young gem up to Steven’s room. The pale gem found some of Steven’s old clothes and changed Spunky. Pearl stepped back to look at her handy work.

“Don’t you look cute,” said Pearl.

The young Peridot was so small that she was swimming in Steven’s old clothes. They hung loosely off her body.

“It’s too big,” said Spunky.

“Well until you form your own clothes, this will have to do,” said Pearl. “Are you ready to go to the farm?”

Once they were out of the room. Pearl handed Spunky to Bismuth. The huge gem put on her friendliest smile as she carried Spunky to the warp pad. With a quick flash. Spunky found herself in a new world.

Staring right into her face was a strange four-legged monster with a big mane of hair and a gem for its nose. Spunky laughed as the striped thing sniffed her. Bismuth set her down. 

The area was covered with a soft green carpeting. Strange brown towers with multi colored flakes dotted the landscape. Around her robinoids with gems inside them stared at her. Spunky screamed in excitement as she ran off the warp pad.

“Don’t forget I need your help in controlling the robinoids,” shouted Bismuth. But Spunky was having too much fun to hear her.


	2. Making Adjustments

When Spunky entered the farm, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Spunky screeched in delight. There was so much open space and weird stuff including the monster staring at her. She just had to see it all. As Spunky ran off the warp pad she heard Bismuth calling her. She’d deal with that – later. There was so much stuff to do.

When the patients saw the warp flash they were so excited. Apatite had just come back good as new after being freed from her healing chamber. Many of them were sick of being small and practically helpless. And so, when Bismuth had returned they were glad, but she wasn’t alone. With Bismuth was a small screechy little green thing.

It was like nothing they had ever seen. At first look it was a gem like a Peridot with green skin and even a stone on her forehead. But no gem acted like this, it ran around screeching. Jasper was no better running around barking after the thing while Bismuth stood around looking disgruntled.

When the screeching thing was away, Snowflake poked Bismuth on the leg.

“What is that thing?” asked Snowflake.

Bismuth looked down, “That is a young Peridot.”

If she had ears Snowflake wouldn’t believe them, “A Peridot? But they are so tall and dignified. This is just a screeching little monster.”

Bismuth by this time was ignoring her, “Spunky get out of that tree!”

“You’re not my manager,” said Spunky. The little gem made a rude noise.

“But I am the manager of this hospital and you’re upsetting my patients. So, get down now.”

Spunky landed on the ground, “What’s a hospital?”

“It’s a place where the sick and broken get better. And to get better they need houses.”

“What’s wrong with that house?” asked Spunky as she pointed at the Quonset hut.

“It’s too small. Now we need a bigger building to fit these gems. So, can you get the robinoids to build something?”

“Okay,” Spunky started drawing on the ground.

She drew a blocky childlike drawing of a gem domicile with a sticklike figure smiling out the window. When Spunky was done, she stepped back.

“Robinoids attend,” shouted Spunky. The robinoids that came with them rushed over. They looked at the little girl. Spunky still wasn’t satisfied. She ran over and grabbed one of the patients.

“Let me go,” cried Seaglass.

“No, you’re going to build me a barracks, you clod,” said Spunky. Then the little girl ran after the other patients scooping them up. They shouted and squirmed as she carried them to her drawing. Jasper who was watching just laughed.

“Enough, Spunky put them down. Those aren’t robinoids they’re patients,” scolded Bismuth.

“You treat broken robinoids?” asked Spunky incredulously.

“No, look into a robinoid. Do you see a gem in there? That’s a broken gem. She’s in there to get better. Now put them down,” ordered Bismuth.

Spunky dropped the patients in a large complaining pile. The patients immediately scrambled into their Quonset hut. Jasper just sat by and laughed.

“Young Lady I did not bring you here so you could have fun,” scolded Bismuth. “Now get to work and build us a building.”

The rainbow haired gem crossed her arms showing she meant business. Spunky seeing this pouted and ordered the robinoids to start building at the site Bismuth showed her. There weren’t all that many robinoids maybe that would explain what happened. Walls formed before Bismuth’s eyes as the robinoids worked. When the robinoids moved away, Spunky scurried up to building and scrambled inside. She stuck her head out a window and waved.

“Ah hell,” said Bismuth.

Spunky’s building looked exactly like her drawing in the dirt. A blocky childlike structure, it was made of the reddish dirt of the farm soil. It was also built to the size of Spunky. Barring a few Sapphires and Rubies, only Spunky could fit in there comfortably. The little gem in question was having a wonderful time. Bismuth could hear Spunky laughing and playing inside.

“Spunky, get out of here,” called out Bismuth.

The little gem scrambled up to her. Bismuth tried to keep calm.

“What is this?” Bismuth asked.

“

That’s my house. Isn’t it great,” said Spunky. The little gem looked proud of what she’d done.

"Spunky it’s, it’s too small. None of the gems will be able to fit in there when they get better.”

“Oh, well you need more robinoids for that. I’ll go get some.”

Spunky did not head for the warp pad. Instead she ran off towards another farm. Bismuth shouted for her to come back but the little gem was too far ahead to hear. Jasper in her corrupted form just sat there and laughed.

“That’s not funny. What if she gets lost or cracked?” scolded Bismuth.

Jasper stopped laughing. The corrupted gem than right after Spunky. Spunky meanwhile was tormenting the neighbor’s chickens. The unfortunate birds ran around like headless chickens as Spunky tried catching them. She had finally caught one when Jasper grabbed Spunky by the scruff of her neck and carried her back to Bismuth.

As soon as Jasper set her down the chicken jumped out of Spunky’s arms. The little gem tried to catch it again before Bismuth held her back.

“Spunky what are you doing?” asked Bismuth.

“I was catching the robinoids here,” said Spunky.

“Spunky that’s not a robinoid that’s a chicken,” Bismuth put her face in her hand. She was starting to get a headache.

“What’s a chicken?”

“It’s a bird kept by humans for food.”

“What’s a bird?”

Bismuth looked down at Spunky. It was obvious from her dirty, too large clothes that Spunky had more in common with a human child than with a full-grown gem. Bismuth pinched the bridge of her nose, she felt a headache coming.

“Never mind. I’m calling Pearl and then we’re taking you to the Beach House.”

Pearl and Amethyst were at the supermarket when Bismuth called them. Pearl picked up the cellphone, “Hello, you want to send Spunky home? Well were a little busy right now. That’s right we’re getting groceries. Keep her busy and we’ll be back at the Beach house in about half an hour or so.” Amethyst waved a box of Sunshine Detergent. Pearl swatted it away, “No we’re not getting that, pick up the no name. Sorry Bismuth we just were asking too much from Spunky.”

Once Pearl had hung up Bismuth sighed. She could get more robinoids but that would mean more robinoids she couldn’t control. Bismuth tried commanding the robinoids like Spunky but that didn’t work. Jasper was still laughing beside her while Spunky chased the chicken and the robinoids milled about.

“I’d like to see you do better,” said Bismuth.

Jasper barked something. The robinoids stopped and faced the corrupted gem. Jasper turned around and seemed to smile smugly. Then the doglike gem barked again. The robinoids ran off to the house next door. Bismuth heard shouting from the owners of the house as the robinoids scanned it.

A few minutes later a large middle aged human female came running towards them. Bismuth didn’t know the woman’s name but she could see she was very angry.

“You there I have had enough. First your kid comes in and scares my chickens and then you send killer robots after us,” the woman’s face was red like a Ruby’s.

“Those aren’t killer robots they’re construction drones,” said Bismuth.

“They nearly gave my husband a heart attack and there’s still there’s still the chicken your kid stole from me.”

“Look I’m sorry but Spunky’s new. She doesn’t know any- Spunky what are you doing?” said Bismuth trying to control her temper.

“I’m looking for her gemstone,” said Spunky.

“Spunky that’s not a gem this is a human,” sighed Bismuth.

“You mean she’s not people,” asked Spunky.

“I am certainly people and my name is Okra,” the woman shouted. She was looking even redder than before.

Spunky squeaked and ran back behind Bismuth. She hid behind the large gem as the woman looked angrily at them.

"Okra is a human, they are people. They just don’t have gemstones. Now apologize for taking her chicken,” said Bismuth softly. She pushed the young gem forward.

“Sorry taking your chicken I just wanted it’s help building a house,” said Spunky.

Okra looked down at the young gem. She just couldn’t stay angry at the little gem. Spunky stared up at her looking a little bit frightened. Okra patted the little green gem’s head.

“Okay but remember you just can’t go around taking other people’s things. Maybe your mother can explain this when you go home.”

“Er I’m not her mother,” said Bismuth.

By this time the woman had left and the robinoids had returned. Jasper barked out some orders and they started building again. It was getting late so Bismuth took Spunky to the warp pad with Jasper following them.

When they returned to the Beach house, Pearl’s face fell. Spunky was a mess. Her clothes were caked in mud and she was missing her shoes. Spunky ran off the warp pad and hugged Pearl. The fastidious gem was now covered with mud. As Pearl’s eye twitched, Amethyst tried to keep a straight face.

“Pearl I missed you,” cried Spunky. “I had so much fun today. I saw these weird towers, they had these brightly colored flakes on them and then I caught a chicken.”

"Enough young lady you are going to take a bath and go to bed,” said Pearl.

“Did I do something wrong?” said Spunky softly.

“We’ll talk about it later, now it is bath time,” said Pearl.

Later after a rather messy bath time. Pearl, Bismuth and Amethyst sat in the living room. Jasper was curled up on the rug.

“Well that didn’t work out too well,” said Bismuth. “I couldn’t get her to do any work.”

“Yeah I would have thought a Peridork would have been way smarter than this,” said Amethyst.

“Amethyst you called Peridot. What did she say about our new guest?” asked Pearl.

“That she’s hyper and curious, that she needs toys and dolls and she is to be kept amused at all times,” replied Amethyst.

“Well she certainly was kept amused today,” said Bismuth ruefully.

“That’s it I’m going to call Peridot. Maybe she has some ideas of how to manage her,” said Pearl.

They set the phone on speaker mode. After a few rings Peridot answered.

“Peridot we’re having trouble with Spunky. We can’t get her to do any work,” said Pearl.

They all heard a sigh from the phone, “You Era ones, listen very carefully Spunky is like a human child. She needs guidance and care. You just can’t expect her to work for you any more than a six-year-old.”

“Well why not? You were a real smarty pants,” shouted Amethyst.

“Spunky is not me. She has only the most basic of training and she is a typical Peridot. I was gemetically engineered for my purpose and I received years of training before I even set foot on Earth.”

“Still we need more buildings at the farm,” said Pearl.

“My suggestion is that you use my repair drones that you trashed.”

“Well what do we do with the useless little brat then,” said Amethyst.

For a while there was silence. Then they heard a new voice.

Steven spoke up his voice was in dismay, “Guys, you need to be patient. Spunky is a frightened little girl who is far away from home. She knows nothing about Earth. You need to guide her and teach her like you did me. Where is Spunky now?”

“In your old room, asleep,” said Pearl.

“Alone?” shouted Peridot. “Listen Peridots rest in scrums. There is no way that she is asleep. After all that shouting? You need to go to and reassure her right now.”

The gems heard a click as Peridot hung up. Then they heard it, the sound of muffled sobbing. For a moment, the gems looked at each other guiltily. Then Pearl swore softly under her breath and climbed up the stairs to Steven’s, no Spunky’s room.

Pearl found the little gem sitting on the bed holding her training robinoid and crying. It was a total mess, Spunky was naked and she had wet the bed. How could Pearl expect Spunky to help them when she wasn’t even toilet trained.

“What’s the matter?” asked Pearl softly.

“You- you think I’m useless. I really tried today,” sobbed Spunky.

Pearl pulled the little gem into a fierce hug, “Look I’m sorry we expected to much from you. You’re just a little gem and we had no right to ask you help us.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that I’m useless,” sniffled Spunky.

“Now listen here you are not useless. We just need to make some adjustments. How about tomorrow we have a day for Spunky, would you like that?”

Spunky wiped her nose and nodded yes. Pearl picked her up and carried her out of the room.

“Alright everybody, we’re going to have to make a few adjustments just like we did when Steven moved in with us. Amethyst strip down the bed and get some pajamas will you. I’m giving Spunky a bath. Bismuth we’ll just have to do things the old-fashioned way.” And so, Pearl explained her plans.

The next morning when Pearl woke up Spunky. She marched her straight into the bathroom. The little gem blinked at the toilet.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” said Spunky.

“You sit on it and expel your waste. No take off your pants. Wait a second Amethyst get in here!”

Amethyst marched in eating a large sandwich, “What?”

“Amethyst we got that food to- never mind just show Spunky how it’s done.”

After Amethyst gave her demonstration and a lot of instruction from the both of them, Spunky did her business.

“I’m a big gem now,” shouted Spunky as she ran out of the bathroom naked. She did a handstand in celebration.

“Spunky, put your clothes back on,” said Pearl.

“But I don’t need them. I don’t need diapers anymore.”

“It is the custom of this planet to wear clothes. If you want to go outside and to the library you need to wear them,” said Pearl firmly.

Spunky groaned. She followed Pearl up to her room.

“It’s too big,” complained Spunky as Pearl put her in Steven’s old clothes.

The clothes were too big. They hung on the gem like a scarecrow. Pearl had to tie up the pants with a belt and turn up the legs. Still they were far too big. Clothes shopping, yet another thing she had to do for Spunky.

“Okay let’s make our first stop for today,” announced Pearl.

Lars was having a hard time. His arm was still broken and it was hard filling the coffee pot with one arm. To top it all off he missed Sadie. Susan his new partner was a large burly girl but didn’t work as hard as Sadie did. So while Susan was busy unloading the oven so he was the one who first met Spunky. He saw a bright green streak race through the doors followed by Pearl’s voice telling it to behave herself. When he turned around he saw a small green thing staring into the display cases.

The thing was another gem. It was green, bald and was the size of a small child. Pearl and Amethyst came in soon after.

“Now Spunky don’t run off like that,” said Pearl. She looked down at the little green gem.

“What is this place?” said the thing in a screechy voice.

“Yo, this is a place where you can get tasty snacks,” said Amethyst.

“I want pancakes,” said Spunky. The gem looked like Peridot and was wearing Steven’s clothes.

“Pearl, Amethyst who is this?” asked Susan.

“I’m Spunky and I want pancakes,” said Spunky.

“Sorry we don’t sell pancakes but we have other tasty snacks,” said Susan.

“Like what?” the gem turned to Lars, “Why is your arm tied up?”

Pearl blushed a bright blue. “Forgive Spunky, she’s new and has not yet learned manners.”

Lars just waved it off uncharacteristically, “No problem, well Spunky my arm is broken.”

“Can’t you just grow a new one?” asked the little gem.

“That’s not how it works with humans,” laughed Susan. “So Pearl, Amethyst what are your plans for today?”

“Well after we get some breakfast, we’re going to the library, go clothes shopping for Spunky and we’ll go play at the beach,” said Pearl.

Spunky ignored this. Her nose was pressed up against the glass.

“What are these?” asked Spunky looking up at Susan.

"These are donuts,” replied Susan.

“Are they like pancakes?” asked Spunky eagerly.

“They’re better than pancakes. Just give us Steven’s usual,” said Amethyst as she slammed down some money.

“I doubt that it’s a good idea to give her an expresso,” laughed Lars. “Well I think you mean what Steven liked as a kid. We’ve got these six packs of chocolate donuts.”

As the gems left they heard Spunky remark that the donuts looked like poo. Lars and Susan held back a giggle.

“I have got to tell Barbara about this,” said Susan.

The next stop was the library. By the time they entered, Pearl was carrying Spunky’s sandals and both Amethyst and Spunky’s faces were both covered in chocolate. Spunky ran straight into the middle of the library.

“Look at all the datapads,” shouted Spunky.

The head librarian shushed her loudly.

“You’re not my manager,” snapped Spunky. “I want puzzle games, drawing boards and story files.” The little gem was getting more and more hyper.

“Spunky, if you can’t behave yourself we’ll just have to leave,” scolded Pearl. The little gem stood still. “Now Amethyst, take Spunky into the washroom and clean your faces.”

Once they were inside the washroom Pearl turned to the librarian. “Yes I’d like to sign Spunky and myself up for a library card.”

“Sure thing, just give us proof of address, ID and $30,” he said.

“Look here I am an alien being who existed and lived here long before this town even existed. I have fought to save Earth and its people long before your species even developed writing. I do not need any ID,” said Pearl.

“You do if you want to use this library,” he said. “Look it doesn’t even have to be a birth certificate, just a driver’s license or something.”

“Amethyst get over here,” called out Pearl.

While Amethyst was sighing them into the public library system Pearl had gone over to the help desk with Spunky in tow.

“Yes, I’m looking for some books for Spunky here,” asked Pearl.

“Well we have an extensive children’s section, with storybooks and kids’ facts as we like to call them,” said the woman smiling.

Spunky by this time had found the children’s section and was looking at the books herself. Her little face was scrunched up as tried to read the books. She dropped the book and ran straight to a little table where she saw some children coloring. Spunky sat herself down and watched the kids playing.

“Perhaps we should spend time getting you and your grandchild used to this place,” said the librarian.

“Oh she seems to be getting along just fine,” said Pearl. Spunky by this time was coloring the table but not the book. The human kids weren’t doing any better. They seemed to be getting along at least.

Pearl continued, “Now I’m looking for some books on animals and maybe a picture dictionary. Spunky doesn’t know how to read any English so any beginners books on reading would be great.”

“I have a few story books and fairy tales that will help her out. We’ve got a great selection here.”

Pearl thanked her and headed to the storybook aisle. She looked at the books there were a few classics but Pearl didn’t like them. An abused girl who simply waits for someone to rescue them? Another one about a princess who falls asleep and must wait until someone rescues her? These were toxic, what were people thinking reading those stories to their children?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a small child crying. Pearl looked up.

“Amethyst stop eating the crayons. You know better than that,” said Pearl sharply.

It was getting late so Pearl picked up some books and called Amethyst and Spunky to her. After checking out the books Pearl pushed them into her gem. The librarian simply stared at her.

As she left with the rest of the gems he called out, “We have story times on Thursday evenings.”

“Not a chance,” shot back Pearl as they left.

Once they were outside Pearl checked out the money they had left. She didn’t expect to pay anything for signing up to the library so the clothes budget was shot. There was less than $20 and the clothes at home were too large for Spunky. She would have to ask Greg for some of Steven’s old clothes and toys then.

“So I guess the next stop is the T shirt store,” asked Amethyst.

“No we’re going to Valuetown,” said Pearl as she narrowed her eyes.

By the time they got to Valuetown Spunky was exhausted. Pearl had to carry her in half asleep. When they went to the children’s section Pearl frowned. It was more expensive than she thought it would be. The pale gem frowned at the price of a small pair of sneakers. There was only enough money to get one item of clothing. She sat Spunky down. The little gem rubbed her eyes as she tried on the shoes. They fit but now Pearl had to deal with some pants. Amethyst came back with a bunch of clothes. Most of those were too large but Pearl managed to find a pair of overalls. It would have to do.

By the time they got back home it was time for dinner. Amethyst had taken Spunky outside and was teaching her how to make sandcastles while Pearl made some pasta. Another expense they would have to deal with, unless Pearl could find some gem food.

When the meal was ready she called in Spunky and Amethyst. The purple gem smiled as she saw the table was set for two.

“Hey nice you made me something to eat as well,” said Amethyst.

“Well we all have to make some adjustments,” replied Pearl.


	3. Spunky's Day Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spunky finds the minicar

The problem with small towns is that news travels fast. So, when Susan the new Big Donut employee first saw Spunky she naturally assumed that Spunky was Peridot’s child. A farmer’s wife by the name of Okra saw Spunky the day before but Susan was one of the biggest gossips in Beach City. As soon as Pearl and Amethyst left Susan pulled out her cellphone.

“I have got to tell my friends about this,” said Susan.

“Hey why don’t you tell the town after work? I’m having a hard time running the store myself,” complained Lars.

“Hey I’m not Sadie,” said Susan. Ignoring Lars’ muttering about she never had a broken arm Susan called her Barb, her best friend Kikki and Peedee. Meanwhile Pearl and Amethyst took Spunky to the library. Nanafua Pizza Beach City’s second biggest gossip saw this and immediately told her friends about Peridot’s and Steven’s child. By the end of the day everybody knew about Greg’s new grandchild Spunky, everybody except Greg.

The next morning as he left the apartment his next-door neighbor greeted him.

“Hey Grandpa,” called out the man.

As he walked to work Jamie the mailman went right up to him and shook his hand.

“Congratulations,” he said.

Finally, he reached his ice cream shop Peedee was waiting for him. As Peedee waited for Greg to open the door he spoke to his boss.

“That Steven he sure works fast,” laughed Peedee.

“Well, Steven had been in love with Peridot for a long time,” answered Greg.

“You mean you don’t know?” asked Peedee incredulously.

“Know what?” now Greg was getting curious.

“Steven and Peridot had a kid. Pearl and Amethyst took her to the Big Donut yesterday.”

“Now look here I know the gems can be strange at times but if Steven had a kid the first thing he would do is call me. He would come to me for help, not the gems,” said Greg.

As Greg opened the widow of the store he saw Pearl waiting for him. The pale gem looked up nervously. Peedee peered over Greg’s shoulder eager for the news.

“Hey Peedee why don’t you do something useful and make today’s batch of ice cream,” barked Greg.

“Greg we have a situation at the Beach House and we need your help,” said Pearl.

“Hoo boy Pearl, I helped you guys out because of Steven. Now Steven is a full-grown man living away from home. I can’t just hand you money whenever you need it.”

“I know but it’s not money we want. I’m actually applying for some jobs right now. What we need is- do you mind I’m having a private conversation,” shouted Pearl at a nosey Nanafua. “We have a juvenile Peridot living with us. She stowed away on a robinoid and appeared on our warp pad….” Pearl continued her story. She told of dealing with the robinoids Peridot’s virus had summoned, of the damage to the Beach house and meeting up with little Spunky.

When Pearl had finished her story Greg stood still, “All right I’ll go visit you guys after I finish work and then I will decide what to do. Okay?”

When Pearl asked Amethyst to watch over Spunky while she did some errands, Amethyst thought today was going to be an easy day. Not so, Amethyst had just finished making a huge sandwich with her favorite ingredients bacon lettuce and laundry detergent when she felt a tug on her shirt.

“Amethyst, I wet the bed again,” said Spunky.

The purple gem grumbled as she stripped down the bed and placed Spunky’s dirty clothes and sheets in the washing machine. When she got back into the kitchen the purple gem found her sandwich gone.

“This sandwich tastes funny,” said Spunky. As the little gem hiccupped she produced a little soap bubble.

Amethyst growled in frustration. She looked at Spunky. Her clothes were wet. Realizing her job wasn’t yet done, Amethyst sighed and gave Spunky a bath and a clean T-shirt and underwear. 

“Look I’m going to watch some TV. You go play with some toys,” said Amethyst as she plunked down in front of the TV.

Amethyst put on her favorite show ‘Cycles of Our Lives’. Since Peridot had modified the TV it showed gem based programs. Amethyst didn’t understand most of what was on the TV but she could relate to the characters in this program. Star Sapphire was trying to figure out her future after being diagnosed with future blindness, when Spunky popped up her head.

“Is this a toy?” asked Spunky as she held up a lemon shaped timer.

“No that’s a timer,” said Amethyst.

“Is this a toy?” said Spunky as she held up a turkey baster.

“No, look just keep out of the kitchen okay?”

Spunky ran into the bathroom. She raised a small boat up to Amethyst. “Is this a toy?”

“No! Wait, that is a toy. Look if it is a smaller version of real things it is a toy. Your room has plenty of dolls and toys go play with them.”

Amethyst sighed in relief as Spunky scurried up to her room. She came back with an armful of dolls and toys. The little gem then sat just in front of Amethyst. In her little hands was Steven’s Sad Bunny.

“Amethyst, what’s this supposed to be?” asked Spunky.

Amethyst sighed this was going to be a long day.

Pearl on the other side of town was having her own difficulties. The interview with Mr. Smiley went well with Pearl repairing the old Future Boy Zoltron fortune telling machine that Steven had broken. 

“So, when can you start?” asked Mr. Smiley.

“Right away,” said Pearl.

“That’s great, now I need you to fill in a few forms and give me your social insurance number.”

That was one interview that went out the window. The next thing Pearl did was try to set up a bank account at the Beach City National Trust. Once again, they needed a social insurance number.

Amethyst seemed to have caught a break. Spunky had chosen a few toys and was playing with them in front of the TV with her training robinoid. The show was getting good Snowflake had just bought a bonding gift for Agate and was proposing a cohabitation agreement. Agate looking unsure was about to give her answer when the channel suddenly changed.

“Education time,” shouted Spunky as she flicked to some dumb gem kids’ show.

"My protractor is my very best friend,” sang out Spunky to the tune on the TV.

Amethyst had had enough. She stood straight up and pulled up Spunky. 

“Hey Spunky, why don’t you play outside today,” Amethyst said as she pushed Spunky and her toy robinoid out the door.

Once outside Spunky looked around. She would have tried swimming but it was October and the water was too cold. Yesterday Amethyst showed her how to make sandcastles but without cement to make then last forever Spunky didn’t see the point. Then she saw it.

It, was the rebuilt minicar that Peridot gave to Steven on his birthday. After his escape from the law it was left behind and used by the gems. Spunky took in the small size and bright color. She remembered what Amethyst said to her. It looked like a smaller version of a car.

“Toy,” said Spunky as her eyes sparkled.

The small gem drove the minicar up to the streets of Beach City. As the young gem drove she created terror on the streets. The little gem swerved erratically making near misses of oncoming traffic. Her driving was especially bad when she discovered some money in the front door. 

Lars was filling up the coffee pot when she saw Pearl’s car swerve into the parking lot.

“Is Pearl drunk?” said Lars softly.

Vidalia merely shook her head, “No, gems can’t get drunk. I once saw Amethyst put back ten beers. She was still as sober as ever. In fact, she drove me back home.”

“Still something is wrong.” said Lars as the minicar crashed into a garbage can.

That something wrong ran right up to the counter. “I want donuts,” shouted Spunky as slammed down some money.

“Sweetie how did you get here?” asked Vidalia.

At the counter, Lars was calling the police. 

“With my toy car, silly,” said Spunky proudly.

“Sweetie, that’s not a toy. You really shouldn’t be driving that,” said Vidalia.

“Oh, course it’s a toy. The gems made it for me. It’s Spunky sized.”

Lars was listening to the police officer’s advice when he heard Spunky, “Give me my donuts!”

“What sort of donut would you like? We’ve got all kinds,” smiled Lars. This would keep the little troublemaker occupied.

“I want to try them all, but,” Spunky thought about it for a moment. She looked so much like Steven. “I know I’ll try the minibits.”

“Have some soda to wash it down and look, we’ve got a table right here,” said Lars.

Once the little gremlin was occupied. Lars tried calling the Beach House. Amethyst couldn’t hear the phone ringing as she was fast asleep on the couch. After about 5 rings Lars gave up.

“My toy car,” shouted Spunky. “Someone’s stealing my car.”

There in the minicar was Onion. Spunky ran after him as he drove the little car away. The little gem ran after for a while but as the car sped up. She was left in the dust as Onion sneered. The little gem sat in the middle of the road and cried. She stopped when she noticed a nearby shop. Inside was a toy car. It wasn’t as big as her old one but maybe it would do. The little gem raced into the toy store.

“-just give us your social security number,” said Pearl’s 5th potential employer.

They were sitting in a rather greasy looking diner. Though Pearl had no experience she promised to work the night shift. Still she needed a social insurance number. In frustration, she beat her head into the table again and again.

When she went out of the diner, Pearl decided to call Amethyst.

“Hi Pierogi, how’s it going?” asked Amethyst. Was that gem sleeping?

“Not good, I do well on the interviews but nobody will hire me without a social insurance number. Amethyst how did you get yours?”

“They gave one to me when I was arrested over 20 years ago.”

“Well I’m certainly not going to get myself arrested. How did Peridot get her social insurance number?”

“No idea, why don’t you ask her?”

“I certainly will do that but first how’s Spunky?”

“Good, I sent her outside to play.”

“Well, it’s getting to be lunchtime. Make her something to eat and call her in, will you?”

Amethyst did just that. It was a little cold outside so she made some soup and sandwiches. Once she was done, the purple gem stepped outside.

“Spunky, time for lunch,” shouted Amethyst.

There was no answer. Strange Spunky always loved mealtimes. The purple gem went down the stairs. She called out again. Spunky was nowhere to be seen. Her toys discarded, the robinoid milling around. Then Amethyst saw it or rather didn’t see it. The minicar was gone. In a panic Amethyst ran right back into the Beach House.

Pearl was trying to arrange an appointment to see the mayor when she heard the cellphone ring. She saw it was Amethyst. As soon as Pearl answered it she got an earful.

“Pearl get your skinny butt back here. Spunky’s missing and she took the car,” shouted Amethyst.

“Spunky’s done what?!” squawked Pearl. “I’m coming right on down. Amethyst don’t move. We’re going to look for Spunky ourselves.

Spunky in the meantime was having a wonderful time. She saw a green dolly, an orange robinoid that didn’t work, a distance viewfinder and even an electronics training kit. She had left a big mess in her wake as she tried out and discarded the toys. 

"Ahem, miss how will you be paying for these?” said a rather tall looking lady. The store keeper was behind the counter. Spunky could tell she was mad.

“Yes, I’ve got the money right here,” said Spunky.

The little gem raced up to the counter with as much toys as she could carry. Then she saw it. The real reason why she was here, the toy car.

“I want that toy car,” screeched Spunky.

“Little miss you can’t pay for all this and the toy car,” said the shopkeeper kindly.

“Forget about those. I need that car,” said Spunky.

When the shopkeeper pulled down the toy car, Spunky immediately sat inside. She looked around for some controls and to start the engine. There was nothing. The little gem frowned.

“Well how do you make it go?” asked Spunky confused.

“

You use your feet little miss,” replied the shopkeeper.

“But I need a car with an engine I need a car that goes to replace the one I lost,” said Spunky in a quavering voice. She then started to cry.

“Look, don’t be like that. Look it’s going to be all right just tell your mommy what happened,” said the shopkeeper. She awkwardly gave Spunky a hug. Unnoticed by the both of them Pearl and a car shaped Amethyst raced on by.

Pearl was furious. She could see the trail of destruction left by Spunky’s wake. Ahead of her Spunky did donuts on the town park’s flower beds. Granted Spunky was a little gem but even she knew it was wrong to break things like that. When they were in earshot Pearl stuck out her head.

“Young lady get out of this car right this instant,” commanded the pale gem.

Spunky responded by driving away as fast as she could.

“No way, the little brat just ditched us,” said Amethyst.

“I swear when I get my hands on her -she’ll be on bread and water for 10 years,” said Pearl. “Amethyst how fast can you go?”

“Fast enough,” said Amethyst as she poured on the speed.

Amethyst got closer and closer. Spunky tried speeding up but the minicar could only go so fast. Soon they were in touching distance. Pearl got on top of the car and drew out her spear. The pale gem leaped on top of minicar. Pearl peered inside getting ready to give the little green brat her just desserts.

“Spunky, you’ve been a bad little gem,” said Pearl as she stuck her head inside.

But it wasn’t Spunky inside. Instead Onion was driving. Thinking fast, the young criminal slammed the brakes on the car. Throwing Pearl off the roof but he still had to deal with Amethyst. The purple gem slammed into the back of the minicar knocking it over. As Onion scrambled out of the car Amethyst grabbed the little miscreant. 

“Stealing a car is so not cool,” shouted Amethyst as she shook the boy. “I’m telling your parents.”

“Amethyst stop. If Onion is in the minicar where’s Spunky?” Pearl asked.

“Right, Onion where did you take this car? Answer me!” shouted Amethyst.

Onion muttered something. 

“She’s at the Big Donut,” said Amethyst.

“That’s good, Amethyst you take Onion to his mother and put the minicar in a safe place. I’ll go pick up Spunky,” with that Pearl ran off to the Big Donut.

In the meantime, Spunky had run out of the toy store and was wandering about Beach City. She was lost and had no idea what to do when a large white van rolled up beside her.

“Hey little boy you look lost. Let me help you out,” said the strange man.

"Okay,” said Spunky as she hopped into the van.

Mayor Dewey smiled. It felt nice to do a good deed.

Pearl ran right into the Big Donut. She marched right up to the counter sweaty and panting.

“Right, I’m here to pick up Spunky,” announced Pearl.

“Hey I did my best but she ran off about 2 hours ago. I tried calling you but no one answered,” said Lars. She saw the look of horror on Pearl’s face. “Look I called the police to go look for her with a description.”

Pearl shouted “Lars the police force has all been replaced. Do you think they would believe you when you told them to look for a little green girl? Now she’s gone and I have no idea where to look.”

Just then Pearl’s cellphone rang.

Mayor Dewey may spend most of his time trying to look like he knew what he was doing but this time he knew exactly what to do. He turned around to look at the little gem boy.

“Don’t worry, kid. I’m going to take you to your grandpa,” smiled Dewey.

“What’s a grandpa?” said Steven’s son.

What did this gem kid know? No matter the Mayor would set things right. He parked right next to Greg new business ‘Scary Hairy’s’. Peedee’s jaw dropped as he saw Spunky run out.

“Hey Greg, I’m delivering your grandson to you,” called out Dewey.

Dewey heard some swearing as Greg came up to the front. “I don’t have any- oh boy.” Greg came face to face with Spunky.

“What is this emporium?” said Spunky. This was the young gem Pearl was talking about.

Greg put on his best smile, “It’s an ice cream parlor. How would you like try some?” Then Greg dialed Pearl’s number.

A few minutes later Pearl came running up to Greg’s ice cream shop. She saw Spunky smiling and waving at her as she ate a large sundae.

“Spunky, thank goodness you’re okay. Don’t ever run off like that again,” scolded Pearl. “What were you doing going into town like that?”

“I was riding in the toy car you gave me,” said Spunky brightly. “But that was until someone stole it.”

“Young lady that was not a toy. We’re going to have a big discussion about this when we get home.”

“And we should have a big discussion about leaving a small child unattended. What were you doing Pearl?” said Greg.

“I left Amethyst in charge while I looked for work,” answered Pearl.

“Oh, clearly you need some help just tell me what you need?” said Greg taken aback.

Pearl blushed, “Okay I need some clothes small enough to fit Spunky, educational toys and er a social insurance number."


	4. Making a Living

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and the others get caught so caught up in earning money for Spunky they forget about her.

Pearl cautiously knocked on Sheena’s door. In the front yard were scattered toys. Sheena was still running a daycare, that was good. The door opened. For a moment time seemed to stand still as Sheena towered over Pearl. The woman hadn’t even changed since they met. Still the same pink hair and clothes. The lip piercing was gone but that was to be expected in her line of work.

“Not that it’s nice to see you but what do ya want?” asked Sheena as she leaned against her door.

“Er yes, I know it’s been a while since we talked,” said Pearl.

“Four years,” said Sheena.

“But I need your help. Oh, this seemed easier in my mind. Sheena, a lot has happened since we broke up. I’m now leader of the Crystal Gems, Steven’s moved out and we’re now taking care of a young gem by the name of Spunky.”

“I heard about her stealing the minicar. She’s Steven’s and Peridot’s kid, right?”

“No, but she is quite a handful. Sheena, Amethyst and I are looking through her room for some things to sell and we need you to keep an eye on her. We’ll compensate you for your troubles usually we barter with goods or services.”

“You realize that I will be taking care of other kids as well?”

“That’s perfect Spunky could use some playmates her own age.”

“And that barter won’t pay for the mortgage?”

“I can give you some solar panels, fix or even build your van. That should be worth some money.”

Sheena sighed, “I’ll do it if you’ll answer one question. Tell me why you broke up with me?”

“Well I enjoyed being with you I really did. But I was starting to have doubts about why I liked you in the first place. You see you look so much like a gem I loved the resemblance was uncanny. I thought I had gotten over her but I wasn’t so sure. It didn’t seem right to love you for who you looked like so I called it off.”

“An honest answer, I wasn’t expecting that. You really hurt me you realize that Pearl. Okay I’ll do it.”

“That’s great we’ll bring Spunky over tomorrow at 9. Oh, and Sheena thank you.”

Spunky was watching sitting in front of the vid screen with a bowl of cereal when Pearl came in. Her new manager looked down at her with an angry look on her face.

“Amethyst, I thought I told you to get Spunky ready for daycare,” scolded Pearl.

“What? I already made up her backpack,” shouted Amethyst from the toilet. 

Spunky took another bite of cereal. They were taking about her if she wasn’t even here. What were they planning to do with her today? 

“But Spunky isn’t even dressed. She can’t go out like this.”

“You mean they wear clothes in daycare? I didn’t know that.”

“Never mind I’ll dress Spunky myself,” said Pearl. “Look at you, you’re a mess. We’re going to get a wash right away.”

Pearl scrubbed her hard. She put some clothes on Spunky without asking what she wanted to wear today and made Spunky sit on her lap in the minicar. When Spunky asked where they were going, Pearl shushed her. They came to a strange domicile with a front yard and toys scattered about. Pearl gripped Spunky’s hand and marched right up to the front door.

“Now Spunky, I want you to be good today. Amethyst and I will be busy today so I’m dropping you off at Sheena’s house for a little while,” said Pearl. 

The pale gem knocked on a white wooden door. A huge quartz soldier answered it and bared her teeth at Spunky. Frightened the little gem clutched Pearl’s leg.

“No, no, please don’t send me to military school, I’ll be good I promise,” pleaded Spunky.

Sheena tried to help as she gently pulled at Spunky, “It’s not so bad. They’ll be kids your age to play with,” soothed Sheena.

But the little gem would not budge. Finally, Pearl pried her off and handed a crying Spunky to Sheena. Pearl apologized profusely to the large woman.

“Hey, don’t worry. This is normal during the first day of daycare,” said Sheena.

With that Pearl left Spunky and headed back to Amethyst’s room. The purple gem was already fast at work sorting through her piles of garbage. Amethyst waved at Pearl as she worked.

“Hey I created 2 piles of sellable stuff, gold and jewelry in one pile and old stuff in another. I watched a lot of antiques roadshow so all this stuff is good,” said Amethyst.

“Good we can take this stuff to the antiques store then and see what we can get,” said Pearl.

Military School was even worse than Spunky thought. It started out fine the Quartz set her up on one of the tables and gave her some ‘playing dough’ to work with. Spunky tried making shapes with the stuff but it wasn’t very efficient. For a while everything was fine then the others came.

The others looked like newborns like her except pink, or brown or yellow. Unlike her they had hair, some long and some short. Sheena the name of the quartz bared her teeth and welcomed them as they came running in and sat at the tables. They started playing with the supplies there seeming so sure about themselves.

“Hello I’m Spunky,” said Spunky to a nearby child.

The child one with short brown hair took one of her playing dough sculptures and jammed it into Spunky’s face. “George, George,” said the monster.

It hurt, so Spunky cried. Sheena swooped in a placed George in the corner. Then it was snack time. The children went over to their bags which were placed on hooks. Spunky could easily find hers it was shaped like a hamburger. She when she opened it, inside was Worker Unit Fuzz Fuzz. The rest of her bag was covered in a goopy mess and there was no snack.

“Amethyst did you remember to pack a snack for Spunky,” asked Pearl as she dove into Amethyst’s garbage pile.

“Yeah, I made a cookie cat especially for her,” called out Amethyst.

When Sheena saw the mess in Spunky’s backpack she frowned. Spunky’s ‘teddy bear’ was also dirty. As she picked up Spunky’s backpack and teddy bear to wash, the teddy bear moved. Sheena gave a little shriek and dropped the weird looking stuffed animal. The thing raced on its four legs to Spunky as the little gem hugged it. Spunky was happy for now.

As soon as Sheena turned her back a little girl walked up to Spunky and Worker Unit Fuzz Fuzz. She gave Spunky an almighty shove knocking the little Peridot down.

“Alice, Alice’s,” shouted the little girl as she pulled at Worker Unit Fuzz Fuzz.

“No, Fuzz Fuzz is mine!” shouted Spunky as she pulled back.

The two little girls proceed to have a tug of war with Fuzz Fuzz until Sheena stood over them. She took Fuzz Fuzz from their hands and handed it to Alice.

“Now Spunky, you should share your toys,” said Sheena softly.

“Worker Unit Fuzz Fuzz isn’t a toy, you clod!” shouted Spunky.

Sheena picked Spunky up and plunked her in the corner, “That’s it missy you’re on a time out. Now stay there until I get you.”

Alice holding Fuzz Fuzz walked by the miserable Spunky, “Alice’s, Alice’s,” smirked the horrible little girl.

Spunky could do nothing about it so she cried. To make matters worse there was no snack time for her.

The owner of Bargain Jewelers Samuel Benton was hoping his new business would fare well unlike his other businesses in Beach City. It was his first day open and he had already some lookers. If he could stay open for the winter season he would be rich. Then he saw Pearl’s minicar. The pale gem kicked open the door as she walked in with a huge pile of gold and jewels.

“I saw your sign. I’m so glad you are buying gold,” smiled the gem. Tears streamed down Samuel’s eyes.

Outside during playtime Alice tried feeding Spunky’s dolly mud cakes but she couldn’t find a mouth. Tired of the toy Alice tried pulling off its legs when Spunky came in the yard.

“Work Unit Fuzz Fuzz return,” ordered Spunky. The dolly leapt out of Alice’s arms. 

“Alice’s, Alice’s,” screeched Alice as she chased Spunky’s dolly. The dolly leapt back into Spunky’s arms.

“Spunky’s,” replied Spunky. In her arms, Fuzz Fuzz stuck out its tongue at Alice. Spunky walked away proudly.

But her victory was short lived as Spunky marched in the house proudly Sheena snatched Fuzz Fuzz away. “Look at that your dolly is all dirty,” said Sheena. “Let’s get this nice and clean for you.” The big quartz them marched away with Fuzz Fuzz leaving Spunky standing there.

Then it was back to craft time, Sheena gave Spunky some crayons and paper. The little gem then tried writing a report to Pearl about her day so far when a small brown hand scribbled all over her paper with a red crayon.

“Betty,” smiled a little girl with fuzzy hair. At least she didn’t try hitting Spunky.

Sheena rang a bell the kids all turned. “All right children, today I would like you to each draw the house you live in.”

This was something Spunky could do. She set to work. Spunky was almost done when Sheena called for story time. The kids came running into another room. They sat in a circle around a big chair where Sheena sat.

“All right children since it’s Spunky’s first day she gets to choose a book,” smiled Sheena. Spunky raced to the back room and came back with the book Amethyst gave her. “Beginner’s Algebra are you sure you want to read this?” Spunky nodded, “Okay I’ll try my best.”

Sheena began to read. The subject was a little too advanced for the rest of the kids and they got bored. Spunky sat straight up listening to every word while the rest of the kids nodded of and fell asleep. Still there was an audience of one so Sheena read on. Sheena did not realize it but she was responsible for producing a generation of gifted mathematicians that day.

When she was finished, Sheena pulled out the sleeping mats and place the kids one by one on them. The large pink haired woman then ordered Spunky to lie on the mat and sleep. Once she was confident everyone was asleep Sheena set to work cleaning up. As she picked up today’s drawings Spunky’s work took her attention. This is something she would have to tell Pearl right away.

Pearl was disappointed she only got $200 and that was because she promised to go to a gold exchanger in Ocean Town. There was not enough time so Pearl headed back to Sheena’s daycare. When she got there Spunky raced into her arms. Sheena motioned for Pearl to come inside.

“Is there a problem?” asked Pearl cautiously as she went into Sheena’s office.

“There was some trouble with the snack you gave Spunky. I advise you not to pack ice cream but that is not what I want you to talk about.” Sheena placed Spunky’s floor plan in front of Pearl. “Spunky is extraordinarily smart. I got my first clue when she actually spoke sentences but the floor plan is proof of this. Pearl my daycare is meant to keep small children busy while their parents are away at work. What education they get is at preschool level nothing more. Spunky is a different case, I feel she would benefit in a more advanced setting.”

“Like school,” said Pearl. “Well we were thinking of putting her into the Public school system once we got the paperwork done.”

“I was thinking advanced like Montessori or another private school.”

“Oh! The gems and I will give her plenty of instruction. What she needs right now is learn about Earth and its customs. Something that your daycare can easily do. I thank you for all your help Sheena. Come Spunky let’s buy you some more clothes.” With that Pearl left.

The next day Sheena’s daycare was closed so Pearl and Amethyst warped Spunky to the farm. Pearl ordered Spunky to go play with while she called Bismuth.

“We need to have a meeting now,” said Pearl. “Call Snowflake, Nephrite and Apatite here.”

The gems all sat around a large wooden table that Bismuth had made. Off in the distance Pearl saw Spunky playing with Jasper.

“Right I called you here because the cost of running this hospital and taking care of Spunky is much more than expected,” said Pearl. “As gems we kept our lives separate from humans but no more. We need as much help as we can healing our injured comrades and raising a gem child any suggestions?”

“We could cut down on costs,” suggested Centipeedle. “I could install solar panels and windmills both here and at the Beach house.”

“Yeah that’s a great idea, but we still have to think about the cost of raising Spunky,” said Amethyst.

“Money has proven harder to come by and without a social insurance number getting a job or a bank account is impossible,” replied Pearl.

“Well I’ve got a social insurance number. I could set up a bank account for us all,” said Amethyst.

“That’s good but there is still the matter of educating Spunky,” said Snowflake.

“I could use an intern to help crunch my data,” volunteered Apatite.

“First of all, Spunky will not be a source of free labor for you. We need to teach Spunky about the ways of Earth. In fact, we could all learn about Earth and its customs,” said Pearl.

“But you were living on Earth for 5000 years,” observed Nephrite.

“Before Steven we didn’t socialize much with humans and then when Garnet became leader she was our front gem,” replied Pearl.

“So how do we get this social assurance number?” asked Apatite.

“Well I got mine when I was arrested,” said Amethyst.

“We are not getting ourselves arrested, yet. There must be another way to get into official human society,” replied Pearl.

“Hey wait we all know somebody who has a social insurance number,” laughed Bismuth. “It’s Peridot people. She lived for years with the humans by herself even got a job.”

“Great idea. You go call her,” said Pearl.

“Me? Why me?” asked Bismuth.

“Because she doesn’t hate you,” said Amethyst.

“What are you doing?” blurted out Spunky. She had come to see what the older gems were doing.

“Adult stuff, now go play some video games,” said Pearl as she pushed Spunky away.

“But I’m hungry,” said Spunky.

Come to think of it is was now late afternoon. Why couldn’t Spunky use a light chamber? Pearl grumbled and took Spunky back to the Beach House. As she turned around to make something in the kitchen the pale gem heard a sob. 

“What’s the matter Spunky?” asked Pearl.

“You’re sick of me,” sniffled Spunky. “You never have any time for me. You keep sending me away.” The little gem rubbed away some snot.

Pearl rushed in to hug Spunky. She had made a big mistake and she knew it, “I’m sorry. I’ve been so caught up in gem stuff I forgot about your needs. How about we go on a little trip just you and me? You can eat some giant strawberries.”

“What’s a strawberry?”

The next day Bismuth with Amethyst’s help dialed Peridot’s number. After about 4 rings Peridot answered, “Look I’m rather busy right now with the lunch rush can you call back?”

“Sure, I just need your help? How do I go about getting a job to earn money?” said Bismuth.

“Oh Bismuth, you don’t need to worry about that. There are a lot of Otaku out there, just make some swords and sell them over the internet,” laughed Peridot.

“Look what I really need is to fit into human society. It’s to help care for that young gem Spunky,” said Bismuth.

“Stop poking me!” shouted Peridot. “Sorry Bismuth, look I’ll call you in about 3 hours.”

It was a long three hours. During that time, Bismuth tried playing with Spunky even watching TV but she was too distracted. Finally, the phone rang. 

“Peridot is that you?” asked Bismuth.

Peridot answered “Yes, now listen very carefully Ocean Haven did most of the paperwork for me but what you need to do is to get a sponsor, then you need to apply for refugee status. You should also get a work visa. The Mayor can get you the forms. And Bismuth you should get Spunky refugee status and you need to apply for legal custody too. Some do-gooder might try and take Spunky into foster care or even insist she go back to Homeworld. You need to communicate the seriousness of Spunky’s situation to the authorities.”

“And what is her situation?” asked Bismuth afraid of the answer.

“Era 2 Peridots are one of the lowest castes there is. They perform the most dirty and dangerous jobs and are considered replaceable many if not all dying from workplace accidents. As soon as a Peridot is born her limbs are replaced with robotic attachments then she is sold off for work. They also have one of the shortest lifespans.”

“How short?”

“I am probably the oldest era 2 Peridot in existence. Bismuth if you suspect that Pearl or Amethyst are neglecting or abusing her I want you to send her over to me. Promise me that.”

Bismuth thanked Peridot and hung up. 

“Wow, she does not trust us at all does she?” said Amethyst. She had been sitting next to Bismuth and heard the whole thing.

The next day Pearl had an appointment with Mayor Dewey. She filled in the refugee claims for her and Bismuth. It was easy when she explained that both she and Bismuth were considered slaves on Homeworld. Once that was done she marched straight into the Funland arcade.

“Mr. Smiley, do you still want me to work for you?” asked Pearl. Smiley nodded mutely. “Then I need you to become Bismuth’s and my sponsor.

That evening after a long work day Pearl walked back to the Beach House. She found Spunky watching TV and Amethyst making dinner. Pearl bit back a reprimand for having Spunky watch TV.

“Great news Pearl, we’ve been invited to Steven’s Thanksgiving,” said Amethyst.


	5. A Day at the Fair

You would think that curing your corrupted patients would make them easier to handle but in Bismuth’s case that was not so. The Nephrites would try and ‘improve’ the equipment. Snowflake would go wandering off on her own. And Soldalite being a former physician tried to order her around. And now Seaglass had disappeared.

Bismuth sighed as she searched the farm. This wasn’t like Seaglass, usually the former aristocrat would be pestering Bismuth for something to do, games, DVD’s even offering to help on a mission. Considering Seaglass had no combat or technical skills it went as well as expected. The rainbow haired gem searched the farmhouses and even the patient dorms. Seaglass was not there. About to give up Bismuth found the gem planting something in a small patch of dirt. 

“What are you doing?” asked Bismuth.

Seaglass turned around. The once pristine white gem’s gown had mud on it. “Oh Bismuth you startled me. Nothing much, just trying my hand at gardening. I’m planting these golf balls and when they grow we can have a crop to sell.”

“Ye-ah that’s not going to work. Apatite has made some pudding.”

“I am sick to shattering of pudding,” sobbing Seaglass ran off.

Back at the Beach House Pearl had to contend with a much smaller but just as serious problem. Spunky sat staring at the TV. Since Jasper ran away and Soldalite had been released from her robinoid, Spunky had been sad and listless. It was so bad that Sheena asked if there was any trouble at home. Pearl knew she had to do something but what exactly?

The phone rang snapping Pearl out of her train of thought. Pearl answered it.

“Pearl, I’ve got a problem here,” blurted out Bismuth. “The newly recovered gems are getting bored, restless.”

“I’ve got a problem here too,” replied Pearl. “Spunky’s very depressed. Since Jasper ran away and Soldalite moved back to the farm she just sits there doing nothing. She really needs something to cheer her up.”

“Perhaps we can both help each other out,”said Bismuth. “I was thinking of maybe a trip into town and get them used to humans.”

“There’s a winter fair opening this Saturday. We could take the Gems there. A fun time to be had by all,” exclaimed Pearl.

“That’s great I’ll inform the trouble makers right away.”

Three days later Bismuth and her group consisting of Seaglass,Snowflake, Apatite and the Nephrite captain waited outside of the gates of Funland. The newly recovered gems were tense nervous.

“Tell me what is the purpose of this expedition again?” asked Nephrite.

“Not every activity has to have a purpose, Captain Nephrite. We are on an amusing day excursion,” replied Seaglass.

Nephrite looked her single gem eye at Bismuth.

“Seaglass is right. This is meant to be a fun time exploring human culture,” said Bismuth.

Soon Pearl appeared with Amethyst and Spunky in tow. She waved at Bismuth’s group as she rushed towards them.

“Oh I am so glad you could all come. Lets go into Funland and enjoy the sites, we have rides and games. There’s a tree decorating contest and food. We’ll have boodles of fun,” gushed Pearl.

“Any pudding?” asked Apatite.

The first stop they made was at the ticket booth. The other gems waited impatiently as Pearl and Bismuth dithered over what to do.

“We can get 30 tickets for $25 or we can get a day pass for $40,” said Pearl. “If we buy 240 tickets that gives 30 tickets each that would be plenty for us.”

“But look Pearl, one of the rides is 6 tickets and that’s one of the cheaper rides we’re going to be here all day. If we buy a day pass we don’t have to worry about counting tickets,” answered Bismuth.

“But still that’s way too expensive.”

“Not for Spunky, children get the day pass for $20. Besides this is what money is for.” 

“C’mon hurry up then,” called out Amethyst.

“Alright we’ll get the season passes then,” said Pearl.

The first stop they made was at the craft fair. Nephrite, Bismuth and Seaglass all looked at the wares intently.

“I could make that,” said Seaglass as she pointed to a pair of felt slippers. It was on sale for $100.

“No you couldn’t,” countered Nephrite.

“You don’t know what I did at Blue Diamond’s court,” snapped Seaglass.

“Knock it off you guys. Hmm Peridot was right. I could sell my swords,” mused Bismuth.

“Oh let’s get some wool please,”begged Seaglass.

“We’re on a budget. Besides I know a place where you can get wool at a much cheaper price,” said Pearl.

Pearl could see the others were getting bored. She marched the gems out and into the midway. “Okay let’s try some rides.”

“Pearl let’s try the bumper cars to get this guys started,” Amethyst urged.

Pearl agreed and they all went over. When they got to the bumper cars there was a huge lineup. 

“Are we going to have to wait a long time?” grumbled Snowflake.

“Nah just about 10 minutes. There’s lots of cars inside,” assured Amethyst.

When they finally got to the front they all scrambled for a car. Spunky insisted that she drive by herself and when the power turned on crashed into a wall. Nephrite drove like a manic cackling as she crashed into the unfortunate humans sharing the rink with them. All too soon it was over.

“That was great let’s do it again,” shouted Nephrite.

“Let’s do something Spunky would enjoy,” said Pearl pointedly.

They followed Pearl to the children’s midway. Pearl watched on as Spunky rode the kiddie coaster, the teeny cups and the merry go round. The others sat off to the side after the stares they got for riding the kiddie coaster. When Pearl sensed that the other gems were getting bored, she took Spunky back.

“And now let’s do something everybody would enjoy,” said Amethyst.

The purple gem then guided the others to a concession stand. She described in loving detail all the fun fair food there was. Not wanting to miss out on anything the gems got 2 of each delicacy to share among themselves.

“Ho, ho, ho this looks like a pleasure craft,” said Seaglass as she bit into a corn dog.

“Well this iced cream is not to my taste,” said Bismuth as she licked an ice cream cone.

“I’d expect not. You like drinking magma,” said Snowflake.

They laughed and joked as they tried the rest of the fair food. Each having their likes and dislikes. Nephrite not liking the cotton candy because it lacked substance. Seaglass found the corn dogs hilarious, while Apatite loved the ice cream. Spunky and Amethyst loved everything while Snowflake and Pearl just weren’t that into eating at all.

Once the food was done it was time to try something different. Amethyst pointed to the haunted house which none of gems were even remotely scared. Pearl suggested the tree decorating contest.

“Why have they decorated the trees?”asked Spunky. They all stared at trees in confusion. Seaglass and Pearl admired the decorations while the others thought it was just plain silly.

“It’s some sort of holiday thing I think its religious,” said Amethyst.

“Let’s try that big wheel,” suggested Bismuth.

“You mean the Ferris wheel?” asked Pearl.

“Yeah that. It looks calm.”

Due to their large size of their group it took three cars for them all to ride. The Ferris wheel was huge and when Bismuth reached the top she could see the entire amusement park. In her eyes it was one of the best rides ever.

After the ride the gems were walking through the midway when Spunky saw something that caught her eye.

“Guys stop, I want them I want them all, want, want, want!” screeched Spunky jumping up and down. The young Peridot pointed to a stall full of little green alien plushies. “Buy them for me Pearl buy them now!”

Pearl sighed Spunky would be into that but that didn’t change anything, “Spunky this is a game. You have to win these not buy them and these games are rigged.” Spunky looked up to Pearl. Her lip quivering. “I can’t say no to that face. Very well we’ll try the ring toss okay?”

Spunky cheered as Mr. Smiley handed her a set of rings. He instructed the little girl on how to play the game. Sticking out her little tongue Spunky tossed the rings. The result was as expected Spunky missed the targets by a mile.

“Sorry little lady, no dice,” laughed Smiley.

Spunky lip quivered again. She really wanted that prize. 

Snowflake stepped out in front, “Spunky how many do you want?” asked the black gem.

“Six,” replied Spunky.

“You need to land five rings to get one alien,” added Mr. Smiley.

“Then give me 30 rings. I’ll get those toys Spunky,” said Snowflake icily. Smiley handed her the rings. Snowflake closed her eyes. “I’m done,” announced Snowflake.

“But you haven’t even tossed them,” said Smiley.

“Or have I?” smiled Snowflake.

Worried Smiley turned around. Behind him all 30 rings were on a target. Now he had to pay up and empty his stock but what should he do?

“You know with all those rings you can win the deluxe prize,” smiled the human man. He showed Spunky a huge life size green alien. The little gems eyes lit up as he handed her the huge toy.

“Thank you!” cried Snowflake

“Teleportation is my special power,” bragged Snowflake.

As Spunky walked by snuggling the huge toy in her arms Apatite turned to Snowflake, “Gemlings am I right?”  
Then Apatite passed by a food stand. On a sign it advertised pudding on a stick, Apatite’s eyes widened. She jumped up and down like a child. “Pudding on a stick must have, want want want!”

After a shameful display of gluttony the gems were ready for their next ride. They picked the Thunderbird leaving Spunky and Pearl behind. Pearl seeing that Spunky was getting tired of holding her toy shoved it into her gem.

“I wish I could go with them,” said Spunky.

“No you don’t,” chided Pearl. She didn’t need future vision to see what would happen next. Sure enough after the rides ended the gems came out filthy covered in regurgitated pudding.

“Apatite couldn’t keep her pudding down,” said Bismuth. “Let’s go home and have a bath.”

“Not just yet Dude, I’m performing in a wrestling match and I got tickets for us all,” bragged Amethyst.

“When does it start?” asked Seaglass eagerly.

“Dude I thought a gem like you would be into dancing and fashion,” laughed Amethyst. 

“Nonsense, I loved sitting and watching the battles with the rest of Blue Diamond’s Court. Oh we had such lovely picnics. Will there be snacks?” asked Seaglass.

Pearl thinned her lips, “The show will begin at 7 but we should line up before then. Amethyst got us front row seats.”

“Oh goody let’s go take a dip in the ocean and wash the filth right off ourselves,” tittered Seaglass.

“First off well below freezing, secondly people will stare at us,” said Nephrite.

“Oh don’t be a fusspot. There are some humans preparing to swim right there.”

“Seaglass that’s the polar bear club,”said Pearl.

“Well then I’ll be a polar bear too,” tittered Seaglass. She then morphed her gown into an old fashioned bathing suit and ran off to meet the insane humans.

“Well that’s one way of getting rid of the pudding barf. I’m going to the washing room,” said Bismuth.

“Remember to use the one designated for women,” called out Pearl.

“Well I’m going to the log flume. C’mon guys this will wash off that gunk,” said Amethyst.

Minutes later Snowflake, Apatite and Amethyst came back sopping wet and cold. 

“Well that was a stupid idea,” said Amethyst. “Well guys I must be leaving you. I have to get ready for the big match. Wish me luck. It’s going to be on television and everything.”

When Bismuth came back they watched Seaglass running with the humans in an insane stampede into the freezing water. Then they rode the spinning teacups. Finally it was dark and time for the wrestling match. Thank to Amethyst they were seated right in the front row. With snacks in hand they watched ridiculously costumed humans battle it out. Seaglass tittered in delight. The others were getting bored, restless.

“Hey Pearl, when do we get to watch Amethyst fight?”asked Bismuth.

“Soon,” replied Pearl cryptically.

The gems could sense a change in the crowd’s mood. The announcer Mr. Smiley came up. He smiled cheesily into the crowd.

“And know the big event you’ve been waiting for the one the only, Purple Puma,”shouted Smiley.

The crowd cheered as Amethyst stepped onto the ring. The only reason why the gems could recognize her was purple coloration. Amethyst was no longer tiny. She had shape shifted into the form of a large male human wearing a leotard and mask. Amethyst raised her hands as the crowd continued cheering. The purple gem sucked in the adulation. Finally Smiley introduced her opponent a forgettable wrestler wearing a construction hat.

But Amethyst wasn’t finished yet. She snatched the mike from Smiley, “I would like to dedicate this fight to my little buddy Spunky. Come up here Spunky.”

The little gem’s eyes sparkled. Amethyst gently helped her up to the ring and put Spunky on her now large shoulder. The crowd cheered as Amethyst and Spunky waved. The bell rang. It was time for the match. The purple gem set down Spunky as the other wrestler circled her. Once Spunky was out of the ring he charged. Amethyst easily dodged. Then Amethyst grabbed him by the waist. She bent over backwards flipping the man over.

“This is terrible form,” criticized Bismuth.

The other gems shushed her. The man escaped, climbed up the corner of the ring and leaped at Amethyst. The two grappled for a little while until Amethyst got a chair and bopped him over the head. She then pinned the human down while Smiley counted down. The crowd cheered as Amethyst was declared the winner.

The match over the crowd started leaving. The gems moved to back stage once the arena emptied. They waited outside as the other wrestlers left. Spunky nodded off in Pearl’s arms. After waiting for about 20 minutes Smiley came out.

“Guys Amethyst is sorry to have kept you waiting but she is deep in negotiations with Nationwide Wrestling right now. She suggests that you guys go enjoy the rest of the fair and she will talk to you in the morning,” said Smiley apologetically.

“Well I’m taking Spunky to bed. I don’t know about you guys,” said Pearl.

“We don’t need to sleep so we’re going on a few more rides,” said Bismuth.

The next morning Amethyst crept into the Beach House like a teenager breaking curfew. 

“There you are what have you been doing young lady?” Pearl was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a pot of tea.

“I’m over 4000 years old Pearl. Where’s Spunky?”asked Amethyst.

“Asleep,” Pearl poured a second cup and pushed it over to Amethyst. “I’m not angry. I’m just curious as to what took you so long.”

“I was talking to a representative of Nationwide Wrestling they want me to join the professional league.”

“Amethyst this is so unexpected. I mean, you’ll have to move to Empire City.”

“I’ve been planning this for some time. I wanted to do something to contribute.”

“Amethyst you already contribute. You don’t need to do this.”

“No I don’t. I’m a lousy babysitter. All I do is sit around eating food. We no longer fight corrupted gems so you don’t need me anymore. What we need is money and these guys are willing to pay me lots.”

“How much?”

“Oh, $500 000 to start,” Amethyst said nonchalantly. Pearl dropped her teacup. Noise woke up Spunky. The little gem came down rubbing her eyes she dragged the huge alien plushie behind her.

“Hey little buddy did you have fun yesterday?” asked Amethyst.

Spunky nodded she was still very tired. Pearl went to the stove. She kept an ear open as she prepared some pancakes.

“Look Spunky I gotta go away for a little while. I have this -mission which will earn us a lot of money but it will be okay. Pearl and Bismuth will have a lot more time to spend with you now. Do you understand?”

“Will you be able to visit?” asked Spunky.

“Sure I’ll be over lots of times. Will that be alright then?”

Spunky nodded her head. As Pearl set down Spunky’s pancakes she knew that the young gem would be sad but life just got a little bit easier for them now.


	6. Spunky Helps Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spunky gets bored and tries to help. Little did anybody know how much trouble she'll cause.

Being a former technician, seasoned warrior and former member of Pink Diamond’s court Pearl thought she had seen everything. But nothing could have prepared for the sight of dozens of corrupted gems waiting patiently by the beach house while Apatite ladled out pudding.

It started out innocently enough. Pearl had to work at Mr. Smiley’s at Funland and Spunky was spending time at the farm. The Nephrites were hogging the videogames and Spunky so wandered the farm looking for something to do. She saw something soon enough. There was Apatite standing over a large bubbling cauldron. As fast as her little legs could carry her Spunky ran over to Apatite.

“Whatcha doing?”asked Spunky.

“I’m making some pudding to lure my friends and take them here to be cured,” answered Apatite.

“Can I help?”

Apatite thought for a moment. She didn’t know if Era 2 Peridot’s were heat resistant in any way. The thought of little Spunky being burned and Pearl getting angry at her made up her mind. “No,” was Apatite’s reply.

Still she felt bad when Spunky walked away her shoulders slumping. Spunky found something else interesting there was Bismuth standing on the warp ready to go.

“Where are you going? Are you getting candy? Can I come?” Spunky shouted.

Bismuth laughed, “Whoa there little lady one question at a time. I’m going to my forge to make some swords to sell not getting candy.”

“That sounds so cool. Can I help?”

“You better not. You could get seriously burned,” then Bismuth saw Spunky’s quivering lip. “Okay how about you go to Seaglass and get her to make you some protective clothing. Then next time you can come.”

As Bismuth warped away she saw Spunky running towards Seaglass. Seaglass was surprisingly glad to see Spunky. The former aristocrat was getting terribly bored with nothing to do so any sort of distraction was welcome.

“Seaglass! Seaglass! I want to go the Bismuth’s forge can you make me some protective clothing!” shouted Spunky as she jumped up and down.

“Well of course I can. Just stand still while I take your measurements,” replied Seaglass. Now she would show Bismuth that she could be useful.

Happy for now Seaglass set to work. Spunky tried to ‘help’ but this was no work for a beginner. 

“I’ll teach you all about weaving and lace making when I’m done,” said Seaglass diplomatically. “If you want to help out you should use your own skills. Do something that Spunky can do, okay?”

Spunky nodded and walked off. For the next few hours she was lost in thought. When Pearl came and picked her up she was still thinking about what she could do. Pearl was a little worried when Spunky mechanically ate her dinner which was her favorite pancakes.

“Is something the matter?” asked Pearl concerned.

“It was just something that Seaglass said,” replied Spunky. She saw the frown on Pearl’s face. “No, no it was nothing bad. She said if I wanted to help out I should do something I know how to do but what?”

“Well how about you sleep on it. I’ve got some strawberry ice cream and then we can watch TV okay?”

The next morning it was time for playgroup. Spunky found the kids stupid and boring but Pearl had to some legal stuff so she had to go. When took one look at the craft table she knew exactly what to do. She grabbed some crayons and some paper and started drawing.

For a while Spunky was happy. She sat manically drawing with her little blue tongue sticking out. Then the other kids came. Then a familiar brown hand and scribbled all over her work with a red crayon.

“I’m just making your picture pretty,” said Betty.

“This isn’t a picture it’s writing you clod,” said Spunky trying not to shout. The young gem did not want Sheena to come.

Betty frowned. She turned around and shouted “Sheena, Spunky’s telling lies.”

“I am not! This is a flier you pebble,” shouted Spunky as Sheena came up.

“Now what seems to be the matter?” asked Sheena.

“Betty keeps ruining my fliers,” said Spunky as she pointed at Betty.

“Those aren’t fliers. Those are a bunch of ugly scribbles. You can’t write you’re just a baby,” shouted Betty.

“Well may you two should work on something together,” said Sheena trying to be a peacemaker.

“I’m not working with a clod who tries to get me in trouble,” cried Spunky as she picked up some crayons and paper and ran out.

The little gem climbed up a tree and started scribbling. Despite Sheena’s coaxing and promises of ice cream she wouldn’t budge. Spunky didn’t even come down for snack time. Sheena knew she had a problem so she got Betty to apologize for ruining Spunky’s work. Still the little gem wouldn’t come down. It was only until Pearl came to pick her up that Spunky got down from the tree.

Once she was down Sheena brought Pearl into her office. The large woman looked distinctly uncomfortable as she sat Pearl down.

“I saw Spunky was up in a tree. What happened?” asked Pearl.

“Another child tried scribbling on something Spunky was working on and literally drove her up a tree. But this is what I want to talk to you about, Spunky is way too advanced for this daycare. She needs to go to school,” said Sheena.

“I’m trying but the school board wants documentation. Things like her birth certificate and immunization records. I’m trying to file her as a refugee but its just taking so long,” sighed Pearl.

“Since Amethyst is now working in Empire City you have money. Ever thought of a private school like Montessori?” asked Sheena.

“I’ll think about it but Spunky needs is other Peridots her own age.”

Once they were in the car driving home Pearl looked down at Spunky. “Sheena tells me you were working on something can I see it?”

“It’s just some fliers I couldn’t make enough of them,” said Spunky.

Pearl tried to suppress a giggle as she looked at the childish scrawlings. There was a picture of a corrupted gem in a robinoid and another picture of a healthy gem popping out of a robinoid. The barely legible writing said ‘Come to the temple at Beach City and get better.”

“Oh Spunky that’s so sweet. How about when we get home we scan it and print out copies okay?” said Pearl.

There was nothing on TV tonight and this project would keep Spunky busy. She thought nothing when the next morning Spunky tried racing to the warp pad. 

“Not so fast young lady, you’re not warping anywhere without an adult,” said Pearl firmly.

“But I have to deliver these fliers around the world where all the sick gems are,” pleaded Spunky.

“Well I’ll be working late tonight. How about you ask one the gems at the farm tonight?”

That evening Bismuth came to pick her up from daycare. She couldn’t but notice that Spunky was carrying a bunch of fliers. 

“Hey there whacha got there?” asked Bismuth.

“These are some fliers that I want to drop off all over the planet. Pearl says I can’t go alone. Will you help me?” asked Spunky.

“Well I’ll be a little bit busy how about you ask one of the others when we get there? Okay?”

When they got to the farm, it was in utter chaos. Apatite had baited a trap with pudding to catch her old friends. It had worked but when Apatite released them they were very angry. The crystal shrimp ran around the farm creating havoc where ever they went. As the other gems tried to contain them Bismuth saw Seaglass trying furiously to protect her loom.

“Seaglass stop what you are doing and take Spunky to the warppad. Let her go wherever she wants within reason,” ordered Bismuth. With the two weakest members of the Crystal Gems out of the way the rainbow haired gem could get to work.  
Seaglass took Spunky’s hand as they walked up to the warp pad. She was holding her loom close to her chest.  
They ducked as an angry Crystal Shrimp sailed through the air.

“So where do you want to go first?”asked Seaglass innocently.

The first place they went to was the jungle Spunky raced out into the forest. As Seaglass struggled to keep up She saw Spunky handing a flier to a particularly vicious looking corrupted gem. She forced herself not to call out as the corrupted reached out and – took the flier in its tentacle. Then the thing just walked away.

Stunned at what just happened Seaglass just stared as Spunky tacked a few fliers on some ruins, old cargo ships and trees around the jungle. The next stop was Mask Island and the Alpha and Beta Kindergarten. They tried posting some leaflets around a volcanic area but they quickly burned up.

“How about we drop these off under water?” said Spunky.

“No these will just melt away. How about we go back and make some waterproof and fireproof paper?” answered Seaglass.

The next few days Seaglass and Spunky were inseparable. They delivered fliers everywhere the warp pads would take them. Pearl and Bismuth were happy that two had found something finally to do. They didn’t suspect that Spunky’s plan would actually work.

The mind of a corrupted gem is a sad damaged thing. They had much of their memories and skills and they could no longer use gem technology like the warp pads. Still some of them still had the capacity to read and remembered where the temple was. So they left their homes and journeyed back to the rebels’ home base. Their less lucid neighbors noticed them and followed them. Within a few days hundreds of the corrupted gems were migrating to Beach City.

The first wave reached about a week later. Pearl was working and there was a particularly violent patient on the farm so Apatite was assigned to watch over Spunky. They were making sandcastles with a couple of robinoids when the first corrupted gem arrived. It emerged and quietly sniffed around.

“Look at that! My fliers actually worked!” screeched Spunky.

“I’m going to call Bismuth and Pearl,” said Apatite.

Bismuth was the first to call. The old blacksmith was still trying to subdue the new patient so she didn’t answer next came Pearl. She had her head in a smashed video game so she couldn’t hear her cellphone ringing.

Apatite looked on as another corrupted gem washed up on the shore. Even though these gems were not violent she couldn’t leave them alone. 

“Spunky I want you to go to Pearl and get here over here right now,”ordered Apatite.

“What are you going to do?” asked Spunky.

“What I do best,” answered Apatite.

Pearl was just closing the videogames’s panel when Spunky ran in screeching. 

“Pearl, Pearl come and see it worked. My fliers really, actually worked,” shouted the little gem as she jumped up and down.

“Spunky, don’t shout. I nearly poofed myself, cracking my head on this game. Now tell me what happened,” said Pearl.

“Itsogreattherearedozensofsickgemswaitingonatthebeachtogetbetter,”yelled Spunky jumping up and down.

“Well you better show me then,”said Pear realizing that this was the most articulate she could get Spunky.

The little gem nearly pulled her arm off as she dragged Pearl back to the beach house. When they finally got there Pearl got the shock of her life. There sitting quietly on the beach were some of the fiercest corrupted species of gems sitting quietly. Apatite walked calmly among them ladling out some pudding she had made.

Not moving from her spot Pearl put the cellphone to her ear, “Hello Bismuth, get down to the beach house and bring as much of Rose’s healing tears as you can carry.”


End file.
